The meeting, which was primarily dedicated to a new book co-authored by Tom Sheridan (more anon) was also addressed by John Pilger who, drawing attention to the now worldwide struggle against neo-capitalism, pleaded for the Socialist Alliance to become more than a repository forprotest votes. In a political system with one ideology and two competing factions, the LSA must become a parallel part of the Direct Action movement he said [which of course it woefully failed to do in 2000].
Tom Sheridan MSP is a rare figure among elected politicans, for he has on several occasions jeopardised his own career by supporting direct actions, as recently as at Faslane a few days ago.[see prev articles]. His new book "Imagine", co authored by John McCombes, is an outline of democratic socialism as envisaged by the SSP in Scotland over the next century. Not without his critics, nobody could ever challenge the sincerity of Tom's views, which have had a remarkable degree of support in Scotland, and which are now realised in the announcement that the Scottish Socialist Party will be standing candidates in ALL Scottish constituencies in the forthcoming election.
The LSA is much too centerist and Labourite for many people, probably most reading this; one odd element of the meeting was that being held in a church, some activists inexplicably removed their hats. Some even embarked on what sounded like a confessional, proclaiming how they voted for Blair, New Labour, or Ken Livingstone with no idea of what could happen. Which is odd, for Pilger had published a piece in The New Statesman back in 1996 outlining how quite possibly Blair could be EVEN WORSE than the forlorn regime of John Major. He tried to warn you, folks !